The streets of Mongkok are a little slow as the sun rises on the east, from the east. Mongkok, the area of Kowloon known for retail deals and entertainment, rise as late as it stays up. The backpackers, huddled in cheap guest houses, get a late start on the day, the karaoke bars and lounges the main culprits. Street cleaners banish the mess left by the merrymakers while newsstands and hole-in-the-wall restaurants wait for the rush that will come as the district wakes.

Mongkok is listed by the Guiness Book of World Records as having the highest population density in the world: An estimated 130,000 people per square kilometer. A walk down Argyle Street or Nathan Road on a balmy summer evening is testament to the record. The streets are a seething sea of bodies, returning home, shopping, or out for a stroll. It’s an experience, one many people, even big city veterans, don’t try twice.

The Mongkok area is home to numerous markets, slaking the commerical thirst of travelers and tourists. The Temple Street Night Market, the Goldfish Market, the Flower Market, and Fa Yuen Street (translated: Sport Shoes Street) all do brisk trade - when they eventually open.

Captured: July 11, 2008, too early in the morning.

Below Pottinger Peak, with misty Mount Parker in the distance, is The Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, on Hong Kong Island. Cape Collision Road, near Chai Wan, is home to seven cemeteries: Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, Sihks, fallen soldiers, and those not buried on consecrated ground, rest within walking distance of each other. Cape Collision Road is also home to two correction institutions.

Heng Fa Chuen, next to Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island’s northeast shore is home to Lei Yun Mun Fort and the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. It was this fort that valiantly tried to stop the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong Island in December 1941. The fort fell on December 19. Many of its defenders are buried at the nearby Sai Wan War Cemetery.

Captured: July 11, 2008.

Anything but drab. Near Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR.
Captured: June 22, 2008.

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Mongkok, (Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR) is a lot like a hang over if seen during the early-morning hours. The trash and debris of the night before litter the streets. It’s ugly and disappointing, much like the one-night-stands the causes of the trash and debris discover as they wake after a big night out.

Dedicated cleaners go to work on the streets, ensuring each day is shiny and new. They are the Aspirin, the visual hangover remedy. While experts at making Hong Kong beautiful, they don’t currently offer indoor services, assisting with the ugly lover in your bed.

Captured: July 12, 2008.

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This is one of the most common photographs taken in Asia. Every night of the week sees professional photographers, and people like me, with tripods set up on Avenue of the Stars in Kowloon, their lenses trained on the bright lights of Hong Kong Island.

How could you not take this photo? The clouds roll in from Victoria Peak, covering the skyscrapers. The phallic HSBC building spotlights the sky. It’s freakish. It’s mysterious. It’s gaudy beauty. There are dozens of colorful metaphors I could use.

I hate you, Hong Kong. On your streets I feel like an adulterous husband sneaking guiltily around. How could I love the bastard child of opium-laced British Imperialism? I hate you, Hong Kong, and Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Central, Wan Chai, and Causeway Bay.

But this photo: I can almost forget about the bitter expats that fill your bars and the fact Jackie Chan is still allowed to make films. This scene: That is why I love you.

And hate you.

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Sai Wan War Cemetery, Chai Wan, Hong Kong.

July 11, 2008.

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